Safety attachment for railway-car heaters



(No Model.)

E. C. ROW-E.

` SAFETY ATTACHMENT POR RAILWAY GAR HEATERS; No. 374,007. Patented Nov. 29, 1887.

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'A BY v ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN C. ROWE, OF ORBISONIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR RAILWAY-CAR HEATERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,007l dated November 29, 1887.

` Application filed February 2l, 1887. Serial No. 228,424. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, EDWIN C. ROWE, of Orbisonia, in the countyof Huntingdon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety Attachments to Railway-Car Stoves, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of an attach.

ment to railway-car stoves designed to avoid the disastrous effects of setting fire to the woodwork of the car in the event ot'a collision.

It relates to that form of oar'stoves in which the jar of the collision or the tilting of the car is made to automatically dump the grate, and also the bottom of the stove, and drop the hot coals entirely through the bottom of the car and out upon the ground, Where they are soon chilled and can do no harm.

Myimprovements consist in the peculiar construction and arrangement ofthe dumping mechanism, which I will now proceed todescribe with reference to the drawings, in which- Figure 1 s a verlical'central section. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the chamber containing the ball.

A represents the body of the stove, which may be of any of the usual forms of car-stoves. The base of this stove is provided with a cylindrical portion, B, and a flange, B. This cylindrical portion lits within a circular hole, in a metal block, C, while the flange B rests upon the upper edge of said block and supports the stove. This metal block is made stout and strong and of such thickness as to form a zone of great strength around the automatic devices forduniping the stove, so that said block acts to protect these devices and prevent them from being mashed or damaged by the collision into an inoperative condition. This metal block is to be fastened strongly to the timbers of the car and braced so as to rmly'hold it in positlon.

To the lower edge of the cylindrical portion B is hinged at one side the circular box or hollow bottom C', which has a concave upper surface, C", with a hole, a, in the center thereof. On the opposite side of this box from its hinge and protruding through a hole in its side is a locking latch, b, hinged or pivoted upon a horizontal axis and arranged to pass through a hole, b', in the cylindrical base B, so as to rhold said bottom in a horizontal or closed position. To hold thisv latch locked and in its horizontal position, its end inside the boxshaped bottom-is hel'd up by a lever, c, whose inner end is provided with a cap, c', in the center of the box and projecting slightly up through the hole in the concave top of the box. This lever o has a weighted end, c, just beneatlnthe latch, and upon the opposite side of its fulcrum is provided with a spring, c2, that holds the weighted end of the lever against the latch and holds the cap o' in the proper position in the central hole. On the concave top ol' the box C is placed a freely-rolling ball, D, ot' considerable weight, which, in gravitating to it-s lowest position, seats itself in theA Central hOle, 'and by depressing the Cap c' raises the-weighted end of the lever and holds the latch b in the hole b of the case, so as to lock the bottom of the stove in its closed or hOflZOllal pOSitiOD. To keep the ball in place on the box, a cover, E, is placed over the concave top of the box, which also prevents the tire coals or ashes from getting into the automatic mechanism. Now, the bottom of the Stove being locked by the ball rest-ing upon the cap c', it will be seen that the impact or jar of a collision or the tilting of the car from being derailed causes the ball to roll oft the cap c', and the weighted end of the lever c then drops, and the latch b having no longer any support to hold it in its'lockinghole b it turns upwardly and out of its locking-hole from the gravity of the hinged bottom, which latter then falls down into a vertical position, as shown in dotted lines, making an opening through the bottom of the car, through which the fire in the stove is dumped. To cause the tire-coals to be dumped at the same time that the bottom of the stove is opened, the grate l IOO ing ange, H, which holds up the grate. Then, to provide means for positively dropping the bottom of the stove, a lever, I, is fulcrumed beside the stove and its lower end is exactly opposite the end of the latch b, whose end is spring-seated, so that when the lever is so moved as to force this springseated end of the latch out of the hole L the bottom of the stove drops to dump the ashes.

At times it may be desirable to lock the st0ve-bottom, so that it cannot be dumped. For this purpose a curved rod or bar, J, is passed through the casing of the stove and is made to rest upon the top of the ball, as shown in Fig. 2 and in dotted lines in Fig. 1, so that the ball cannot move from its seat in the eentral hole and the lever and latch are rigidly held to the locking position.

Having thus described my invent ion, what I claim as new is l. The combination, with a car-stove, of automatic dumping devices for the bottom of the stove and a re-enforeing or strengthening block made wholly independent of the stove and the automatic dumping devices and surrounding and protect-ing these automatic devices, as set forth.

2. The combination, with a car-stove, of a hinged bottom and automatic dumping devices consisting of the concave and perforated plate C2, the ball D, located on top of the concave plate, the lever c, with weight c4 and cap c', the spring c2, and pivoted spring-seated latch b, all located beneath the concave plate, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, with a carstove, of the hinged bottom, automatic dumping devices, a hinged grate, and a rod, G, hinged at its upper end to the grate and free at its lo'wer end to be supported either upon the hinged bottom or the stationary iiange, as set forth.

4. rIhe combination, with the ear-stove, of the hinged bottom C', having concave and perforated upper plate, and looking devices arranged below the perforated plate and provided with a lever, c, arranged to be acted upon through the perforation in the plate by the ball, the ball D, and a loekingbar for positively holding said ball on its seat, substantially as shown and described.

The above specification of my invention signed by me in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ED. C. ROWE.

W'itn esses:

EDWD. XV. BYRN, SoLoN C. KEMoN. 

